


Sometimes

by thewindupbird



Category: Brothers of the Head (2005)
Genre: Gen, Mental Instability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-05
Updated: 2012-07-05
Packaged: 2017-11-09 05:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/451973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewindupbird/pseuds/thewindupbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>These times - when he finally gave in and just went quiet and just listened to what It told him - that they were the worst… they were the worst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sometimes

Barry knew that Tom didn’t like it when he got quiet… not like this. This meant that he was listening to things that no one else could hear. But Tom put up with it. Sometimes that infuriated Barry because Tom didn’t know that these times - when he finally gave in and just went quiet and just listened to what It told him - that they were the worst… they were the worst.

 

But at the same time Barry liked it. Because it was  something that was his. His own… Tom might whisper in his ear that it was ‘their secret’ and that they wouldn’t tell no one, but Tom didn’t know. Tom didn’t hear it… only heard it when he slept. And even then he had trouble making it out. When he told Barry about it, he sounded ashamed.  Maybe because he couldn’t hear it… that’s what Barry had thought until they came to Humbleden. And after that, Barry thought that maybe he was ashamed because he _could_ … because _Tommy_ was the one that wanted to be _normal._ Barry didn’t want that anymore.

 

It had come from the marshes… really. That was why Tom hated it when Barry used to play that game with Rob… pretend that it was Tom who had come off the marshes like It had… Tom was scared of It… Barry knew that. And Tom knew that he knew. They never talked about that because if they did that tiny tear that had started in whatever it was that was joining them together… that _real_ connection that was more than just their ribbon of flesh and the way their blood ran into each other but would still go away if that band was broken… it would only get bigger… The tear would get deeper and they would bleed out until they were dry and dead.

 

Because Barry couldn’t imagine life without Tom.

 

“We’ll go together… go together.”

 

And Tommy had hesitated.

 

And so Barry leaned away from his brother and felt Tom’s eyes on him, curious, and Barry let his mind go blank, and he let It in because Tom wasn’t talking to him and because he wanted Laura more than he wanted his brother. And because Paul had pulled away from that kiss and never brought it up again. Because Nick hit him and because Tubs and Spitz were really only there for the band. Because their father had sent them all the way out here and because Robbie was sitting at home and missing them and not doing anything about it, and no one told Barry anything anymore.

 

_No one tells me nothin’…_

 

And then the static started, and the sound of the waves… Barry wasn’t in the dark anymore when It talked to him. It told him thinks that no one else would tell him. It told him things about people that he should never know. It was always there to wrap Barry in It’s arms and his head in a fog and protect him from everything.

 

Tom whispered his name, but Barry wasn’t listening to him anymore…

 

He would never tell anyone that sometimes he liked it.


End file.
